Substances containing carbon atoms include fullerene, carbon nanotube, graphene and graphite. Of these, graphene is a single atom layer whose structure is a two-dimensional planar array of carbon atoms.
In particular, graphene has considerably stable and superior electrical, mechanical and chemical properties and has excellent conductivity and thus more rapidly carries electrons than silicon and enables application of higher electrical current than copper, which was demonstrated through experimentation based on discovery of a method of separating graphene from graphite in 2004 and graphene has been actively researched to date.
Such graphene attracts much attention as a base material for electrical circuits because it may be produced at a large scale and have excellent conductivity as well as electrical, mechanical and chemical stability.
In addition, electrical properties of graphene may change according to crystal direction of graphene with a predetermined thickness. For this reason, electrical properties are expressed in a direction selected by a user and devices can thus be easily designed. Accordingly, graphene is effectively used for carbon-based electronic or electromagnetic devices.
As such, graphene may be applied to heat discharge materials due to superior thermal conductivity.